Monsters! Monkeys! And Midi-chlorians! The animation scene at this year?s Comic Con was overwhelming, but we've somehow managed to pick the top five animated wonders that we had the most fun with last weekend. Since New York Comic Con 2008 was largely geared towards comics and kids, it?s no wonder that three of our five picks are kid-related, but make no mistake--animated monster or zombie movies make for awesome adult entertainment too!

Star Wars Robot Chicken

This weekend, Robot Chicken creators and buddies Seth Green and Matthew Senreich made an announcement detailing the DVD release of their special Robot Chicken Star Wars episode. Though many Star Wars and/or Robot Chicken fans have probably already seen some, if not all, of the stop-motion parody episode, which features some pretty hilarious skits, the show?s creators decided to take-over the LucasFilms panel to promote the DVD release. And If you couldn't make Comic Con, fear not!--you can watch most of it on AdultSwim.com

Of all the revered geek franchises out there, why parody the fiercely-protected Star Wars? Surprisingly, Green and Senreich actually got the blessing of Lucasfilm and its crotchety-but-still-widely-revered master with just one restriction (as far as we know): Don?t say the word penis.

The controversy started in one of the episode's skits involving Space Slugs. Green was kind enough to reenact the scene in which where the Slugs are ordering Chinese food but realize that it will take awhile, and to pass the time, play charades. ?You?re a penis?? one guesses? ?No, a Space Slug. It?s Always a Space Slug.? Apparently, after Lucasfilm saw this clip, the creators cut the scene a few minutes before the penis action, leaving off with the following oversized Slug take-out order:

5 million tons of Kung Pow Chicken
3 million pot stickers
1 order of scallion pancakes
5 million tons of fried rice

Still avoiding all mention of penises, Lucas does make an appearance as himself (in animated form) in an elevator at a Star Wars con, and in a therapists office talking about how, over the years, people have ruined Star Wars (i.e. Robot Chicken) by doing whatever the hell they wanted with it.

Some other highlights from the episode, include the ad for Admiral Akbar cereal, or the Emperor and Luke?s ?Yo Mama? fight, moderated by Darth Vader. First, I must say I know more than a few people that would stock their shelves with Admiral Akbar cereal regardless of the overwhelming fishy taste and the fact that it?s obviously a trap. But another highlight was when the Emperor failed to conjure laughs from the Death Star crowd with my personal favorite, ?Yo Mama so stupid she thought a lightsaber had less calories.? Ahhhhhh? Don?t judge me.

Anyway, the point of their entire promotion was to let us know that a 30-minute edition of Star Wars: Robot Chicken will be available on DVD on July 22nd, with over 2 hours of extras including some footage of working with George Lucas.

The Clone Wars

As if stop-motion Star Wars action isn?t enough, Lucasfilms is also gearing up to premiere The Clone Wars CGI movie on August 15th. If you haven?t already heard, The Clone Wars movie will focus on the time period between episodes 2 and 3, a time of many intergalactic battles. And after the film premiere?s this August, a companion TV series will also air on TNT and Cartoon Network.

Of course at the fascist panel also known as the Lucasfilms panel, we saw not a hint of trailer and not a touch of an exclusive clip. But I guess we have to give them SOME credit, since they did decide to tease their adoring fans with a behind-the-scenes video, showing a way-too-quick snippet of a battle taking place on a mountain.

Igor

On a much lighter note, on Sunday I had the pleasure of sitting in the Igor panel, which was chock-full of monsters and fun, since Igor is the newest animated children?s horror flick!!

Igor is about, well, igors?the hunchbacked men behind the mad scientists, who watch these scientists reap the glory and are confined to pulling switches. The particular Igor which this film focuses on just happens to be voiced by 1408?s John Cusack. This Igor attempts to cross the igor-scientist barriers and create something truly evil. His attempts, however, are futile, and he ends up creating a Frankenstein?s monster-like creature, voiced by Molly Shannon, who dreams of being a not-so-evil actress. Other notable voices include comedians like Jay Leno, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Sean Hayes, and Arsenio Hall.

And while that?s all fine and good, the best part may be the repeated references to classic monster movies such as in the quite obvious allusion to The Invisible Man in the character Carl Cristall?he?s is an invisible man who just happens to be a reporter, voiced by Arsenio Hall.

Director Anthony Leondis and writer Chris McKenna (American Dad) tell us that these references are plentiful, and that fans of the genre should look for them throughout the film. For a more in-depth look at the trailer, check out our article about the Igor footage we saw, and our video interview with the Igor with McKenna and Leondis.

Space Chimp

The trailer has been out for a while now but who could really pass up the fun of primates in outer space? And their booth was just a hop away from the FEARnet booth at NYCC! So we spent a little bit of time (maybe a little more than necessary) watching the trailer, collecting cool promos and playing the Space Chimp video game for Xbox 360.

Space Chimps is an animated comedy-adventure featuring a few mismatched NASA chimps that find themselves on an uncharted planet, where they must fight to save said planet?s inhabitants from an oppressive leader. Voice talent includes the noteworthy Jeff Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth, Cheryl Hines, Stanley Tucci, Andy Samberg, Keenan Thompson and Patrick Warburton.

Since we hung around for so long, the nice people from Brash Entertainment (the company repping Space Chimps) decided to hand over a few Space Chimp flying monkey promo items! These stuffed monkeys sport masks, Space Chimp-branded capes and rubber bands inside their arms and tails that help them catapult clear across a room (all the while screaming their monkey screams) with just one quick pull of their limbs.

Space Chimps is expected to fly into theaters, July 11th and even though it?s not a horror/sci-fi flick, flying monkeys are always pretty damn cool.

The Vegan Zombie: Tofu in Zombie Dearest and Teddy Scares

Some things at Comic Con New York you just stumble upon. Sometimes they?re over-exhausted passed-out fans covered in stickers and posters, and sometimes they?re animated zombie shorts that entertain.

This time around, I stumbled on The Vegan Zombie: Tofu in Zombie Dearest. I received the DVD after buying a hoodie from the Philadelphia natives, and all around nice guys, at the Teddy Scares booth and decided to give it a watch.

As it turns out, Zombie Dearest is an animated student film from Dave School and stars Billy West and Ellen Muth. Visually it?s close to the quality found in most big-budget animations. The story concerns a mad professor searching for a basement-laboratory-created cure for his zombie wife, their young emo-esque daughter and the monkey and tofu-brained zombie who happen to live in their home. Fortunately, if you missed picking up a copy at Comic Con, Zombie Dearest is available on DaveSchool.com and is a quick watch.

Maybe zombies aren?t quite your thing (and you managed to get this deep into FEARnet by mistake). Maybe you?re into the softer things in life, like cuddly teddy bears?who?ve become rough-and-tough, bat-slinging, axe-wielding, junkyard dwellers. Then you might enjoy the animated short Teddy Scares!

Of course there were plenty more animated shows, features and fun at this year?s New York Comic Con, but these five gems kept us busy and excited throughout the weekend! Be sure to check out Comcast.net or GameInvasion.com for some additional animation coverage or check back for our NYCC Game Roud-up!